1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to network communication devices, and more particularly to a network communication device and a method for routing packets with translated addresses.
2. Description of related art
A company may have an internal communication network allowing employees to communicate internally with each other Alternatively, the internal communication network can be connected to the Internet for accessing more information. When company computers are connected to the Internet, they are configured with internet protocol (IP) addresses. However, companies usually have a limited number of IP addresses. As a result, an IP sharing device is used to distribute the limited number of IP addresses among employees, allowing numerous employees access to the Internet simultaneously. The IP sharing devices can translate virtual IP addresses in compliance with the internal network into physical IP addresses on the Internet.
One such IP sharing device translates addresses of internal packets via an address translation module, sends the internal packets with the translated addresses to an IP routing module for routing, and sends the internal packets with the translated address to an address translation module to be forwarded to the Internet. The internal packets are sent to the address translation module twice before being sent to the external network, which is unnecessary time spent on forwarding packets, thereby decreasing the utilization efficiency of the IP address sharing devices.